Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/85

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��S. Frances Harrison BEFORE IT WAS LIGHT

On reading that England s east coast was dark early in the war

IGHTS are out from Shields to Whitby, and there burn

no bonfires red High on Cromer or on Saltfleet or on bold Flamborough

Head ; Grimsby, Harwich, Wells, and Lowestoft, shine no

longer on the deep, England s shores are grimly guarded, gravely sentinelled

to sleep.

Coast and isle are thick enshrouded lest an enemy might

mark Cottage lamp or castle beacon beckoning stilly in the

dark. . ..

Tis a new thing for England, the country of the free, Tis a strange thing for England, but so so let it be!

Let it be a little longer till the turning of the tide, Till the talk of foul invasion and of fusillade subside ; Lest the foe, marauding, ravish, and on humble homes

encroach, For the sake of wives and children to be dark is no

reproach.

Lights will glimmer all the gayer for the hours en-

sombred now, When the battle rage has wasted, when the sword gives

place to plow, Every hearth shall bear its blazon, every pane with candle

set Shall irradiate the glooming and illume Old England

yet.

From the North Sea came a peril o er a thousand years

ago, And the peril changed to bounty, as a friend is made

from foe.

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